DIY: Brush Cleaner

Tired of shelling out so much money for brush cleaners? Here is a do-it-yourself recipe that will effectively sanitize your brushes. All you’ll need is a few things you can easily find in your bathroom cabinet or local drugstore.

Here is a list of the ingredients and what they do.

1. Buy a squeeze-bottle that holds approximately 8 oz.

2. Fill the bottle, first, with 2 tablespoons of water.

3. Measuring off of the remaining space in the bottle, fill 3/5 of it with isopropyl alcohol.

4. Fill the remaining 2/5 with baby shampoo or a mixture of baby shampoo and mild soap.

5. Swirl (don’t shake) the contents to mix them together.

6. Wet your brushes under running water, soak them with the cleaner, and swirl the bristles in the palm of your hand. Rinse and leave them to dry.

I have used this recipe to make and use my own brush cleaner for over 3 years now. You don’t need any special or fancy ingredients to effectively clean your brushes. After all, brushes are made of either real or synthetic hairs. And how do you usually wash your hair? With shampoo!

The soap/baby shampoo will also help get out whatever dye or pigment is on your brush. Just remember that you will often times still have color left on the bristles, even after you’ve washed them with this cleaner. This doesn’t mean the brush isn’t clean! The alcohol in this recipe will fully sanitize your brushes. It’s just like clothing: sometimes clothing gets stained, and even after putting it through the washer, the stain stays in the material, even though it’s clean.

Every once in a while, if you really want to make your brushes not only clean, but visually spotless, pour a bit of olive oil into your hand and swirl the bristles around in it. Then, clean the brush with this cleaner. The olive oil will get out all the pigment and help condition the bristles.

So there you go–no more paying for over-priced brush cleaners.

Be bright, be beautiful!